


Meet Your End

by Heather_Night



Series: You Know My Name [5]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Spies & Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 01:46:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13043958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heather_Night/pseuds/Heather_Night
Summary: Peter had been wrestling with this problem for weeks now.  He was in love with Stiles but it was compromising his ability to concentrate on his work.In his line of work, lack of concentration could mean the end.





	Meet Your End

**Author's Note:**

> The hurt/comfort prompt for this story was Taking Care of Somebody. This little angst-fest concludes the end of this five-part 'verse.

Peter had been wrestling with this problem for weeks now. He was in love with Stiles but it was compromising his ability to concentrate on his work.

In his line of work, lack of concentration could mean the end. 

The end of his career.

The end of life…his or someone else’s. It was the _someone else_ that was more worrisome. 

What if Stiles died because of Peter’s actions? Peter couldn’t live with that outcome. 

Peter didn’t want to but he didn’t see a way around it—he was going to break up with Stiles. In a matter of minutes.

The lock disengaged and Stiles bounced into Peter’s condo, waving his hands. “Hey, Peter, I’ve got some news…hey, what’s wrong?”

The young agent had such a bright future ahead of him but Peter just couldn’t stand by and see what fate had in store for him, or them, not with their highly risky line of business.

“Stiles, this isn’t working.” Peter’s arms had crossed defensively over his chest and he hadn’t even realized it.

Stiles crinkled his brow, puzzling out Peter’s words. “What isn’t working?”

“You and me. Us. You’re too young. Or maybe I’m too old. I don’t know. What I do know is I’ve made up my mind. We can’t see each other anymore.” There was a lot more Peter could say—should say—but his damn allergies were acting up and his eyes were runny.

Stiles cocked his head to the side like he did when he was reasoning something out. “I don’t understand.”

“I need the key to my condo back. Please.” Peter couldn’t look at Stiles’s face anymore. It was breaking his heart.

Peter’s own heart was breaking. 

In a very small voice, Stiles said, “But I have some news—“

“I’m sorry Stiles. I’ve made up my mind. Please don’t make this harder than it already is.” Peter turned his back while scrubbing his face dry.

All right, it wasn’t allergies making his eyes water. And now his sinuses were congested and his nose was dripping.

Peter heard the click of something being set down on his coffee table and then the door swinging shut.

The finality of the door closing was highly symbolic. The punctuation on the end of Peter’s most stable, and happiest, relationship.

Peter picked up the plastic keycard and whipped it against the wall. The explosive gesture didn’t do anything to make him feel better.

Hopefully time would do the trick.

-0-

Peter entered the little room off the gym where the new recruits were due any minute now. The mirrored windows allowed the trainers to keep tabs on the newbies without spooking them. Spooking them would come later in their super spy training sessions. When you were working for a shadowy government agency fighting evil, you had to be prepared for anything.

Except, apparently, a broken heart. Peter had been pouring a lot of energy into appearing unaffected but it was just a façade. A pretend façade.

Lydia breezed into the room. 

“Hey, Pepper,” Peter greeted the other agent by her code name. The code name he’d bestowed upon her in honor of her reddish hair, high IQ and ability to take control of situations quickly.

“Don’t Pepper me,” Lydia snipped back. It had been two weeks since they’d worked together.

Two weeks since he’d broken up with Stiles.

Oh. It wasn’t that Peter was unaware of Lydia’s close friendship with Stiles, he just hadn’t thought the break up would cause any repercussions to his relationship with his protégé. How very short sighted he’d been.

Narcissus, aka Jackson, poked his head into the room. “Hi Lydia, do you want to meet me at the party or do you want to ride over with me?”

“I’d better meet you over there, just in case this session runs over a little. If you do get there first please tell Stiles I’ll be right along.” Lydia smiled at Jackson. The two had a bit of an on-again, off-again relationship and apparently at the moment it was on.

Jackson nodded at Peter and departed.

Peter tried to ignore it but he just couldn’t. “What party?”

“If you weren’t such an ass-hat, you’d know.” Lydia raised a dainty eyebrow at him.

“Please, Lydia, set aside for a moment what an ass-hat you consider me to be. What party are you going to and what does it have to do with Stiles?” Peter couldn’t contain his curiosity. He still loved the other man even if he didn’t think it was a good idea for them to be together.

Lydia crossed her arms but maintained her silence.

Kira entered the room, a big smile on her face. “Hi, Lydia. What time is Stiles’s going away party? Scott told me where but he didn’t tell me the time.”

“Stiles should be there by 8 if everything goes well. He and Scott are doing one last mission together but they’ll be right down the road from the bar.” Lydia smiled at Kira. 

Kira’s code name was Electra and she was practically vibrating in place with excess energy. They’d chosen her code name well.

“Are you coming to the party, Peter?” Kira asked. She was bouncing on her toes and between that and the seemingly innocent question she’d posed, Peter wanted to shoo her away. Or smack her.

Someone’s cell beeped an alert. Kira grabbed it out of her pocket and silenced it. “That’s me. See you later!”

If Lydia wouldn’t tell him what was going on, he was going to hunt someone else down and get answers. 

“Fine. Stiles is leaving our division. He’s been granted a transfer to administration where he’ll be working exclusively behind-the-scenes.” Lydia stared at him, waiting for some sort of reaction.

Peter had taken blows to the solar plexus before that caused similar bouts of breathlessness but this was by far worse than those times.

Stiles had wanted to share news with Peter that fateful night but Peter had shut him down.

Once Peter had made up his mind that things were not going to end well for their relationship, he had been eager to make the break. Cut his losses and move on. Not that it had done Peter any good. 

Peter had given his heart to Stiles, had thought maybe the younger man would be his long-term partner, but being in the same line of work—in the same division—hadn’t been sustainable.

Now it seemed feasible.

“Lydia, where is Stiles right now? I must speak with him.” Peter’s voice was quivering with suppressed emotion.

Lydia threw her hands up in the air. “Finally, a break through!” She took a piece of paper out of her pocket and stuffed it into Peter’s hand. “Here’s the address. I still expect to see Stiles at his party so don’t monopolize him.” 

Peter brushed a kiss across Lydia’s cheek. “Thank you.”

He ran through the hallways, ignoring other agents who called out to him. Finally he made it to his Mercedes. 

If Stiles was no longer in the same division as Peter, this could work.

Now he had to beg Stiles’s forgiveness and hope he felt the same way as Peter.

-0-

Peter took in the tacky sign proclaiming Brass Buckle Bar was open for business. This was the address Lydia had given him.

Before Peter could exit his vehicle, two uniformed police exited the building escorting a large gentleman in handcuffs. 

Peter had one foot out of his coupe when the building next disgorged Scott and Stiles, the latter being helped by the former. Stiles wasn’t staggering but as they walked beneath the bright lights of the establishment’s sign, Peter saw the bruising on the other man’s face.

Scott made eye contact with Peter across the street and guided Stiles his way. “You must be our ride.”

Peter, stunned for a moment, bobbed his head before he opened the back door. “Of course. Do you need medical assistance?”

Once again it was Scott who answered. “Nah. Just a ride back to HQ, thanks.”

Scott, code name Dudley Do-Right, wasn’t being very forthcoming.  
The young man had been assigned his moniker because of his looks—his jawline was pronounced and a bit uneven—as well as his unfailing urge to always do the right thing. Scott was also good friends with Stiles. His reticence could’ve been to protect his friend or he just didn’t think the situation warranted much discussion.

“May I ask what happened?” Peter adjusted his rearview mirror so he could keep an eye on Stiles. He felt like a chauffeur with the other two men in the backseat.

Scott chirped an answer. “We needed to get an asset into protective custody and he wasn’t cooperating. We, well Stiles, instigated a fight to get him arrested. Stiles got decked for his troubles but the asset is in custody now. Dude, that was epic.” That last was aimed at Stiles who cradled the left side of his face in his hand.

“Epic, yeah. I took one for the team. Go me.” Stiles spoke for the first time since getting into the car. 

Peter glanced in the rearview mirror to see Stiles wobbling his jaw back and forth, checking for damage. He seemed satisfied everything was in working order but he didn’t seem happy.

Of course that could be due to Peter’s presence and not just the hits he’d taken.

“Stiles, bro, I’m sorry you got punched out but you totally salvaged the situation.” Scott turned his attention toward the front of the car, speaking to Peter. “I was going to play that role but I couldn’t come up with anything to say to start the fight and the plan was to get him arrested so he was safe in jail. Stiles is good with thinking on his feet. He plays a good drunk, too. He had everyone in the bar believing the asset had slept with Stiles’s girlfriend.” 

Scott gave Stiles a concerned look but the other man remained quiet. It wasn’t even a serious injury but the thought of Stiles being hurt jumpstarted all of Peter’s protective tendencies.

Peter wanted to take care of Stiles. He was the one who had broken up with Stiles so he shouldn’t be pushing himself on the other man. He couldn’t leave it alone though.

He pulled into the HQ parking structure. “Stiles, I would really like to talk to you and also see to your injuries. Could I take you home, or better yet take you to my condo?”

Stiles sniffed. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I mean I’m so young and all.”

Scott’s head swiveled between Peter and Stiles. “You know what? I’m going to let you two talk things over. Give me a call if you need a ride, okay?” The agent fled the car before Stiles could object.

Peter cleared his throat nervously. He was never this nervous. “I owe you an apology. Or several. I understand if you’re not ready to speak with me yet but Stiles, love, I didn’t know you were transferring out of fieldwork. Had I known, I never would’ve broken up with you.” 

Peter was contrite but he didn’t expect Stiles to immediately fall at his feet and absolve him. He held his breath, awaiting a response.

“For the record, I decided to get out of field work because my interests are elsewhere. I thought you’d be happy with that decision but you never even gave me the opportunity to tell you.” Stiles sighed, poking at his swelling eye, wincing at the contact. “Fine. Let’s talk.” 

Stiles remained in the backseat but Peter didn’t push the issue. Since Stiles didn’t indicate where he wanted to talk, Peter headed back to his condo. He parked in his assigned slot, they exited the car and silently rode the elevator to Peter’s floor. He kept his hands to himself but it was difficult.

Finally caving, Peter placed his hand on Stiles’s low back, guided him inside and deposited him onto the couch. Crouching over to get a better look he crooned, “Oh, sweetheart, let me have a look.” 

Stiles didn’t object so Peter carefully lifted his head up with a few fingers beneath his pointy chin. The left side of Stiles’s face was red—that was going to be one hell of a bruise—his left eye was swelling shut and his lip was split open.

“Seen enough?” Stiles fluttered his eyelashes at Peter although the coquettish effect was marred by the swollen eye. He and Lydia had talked about assigning Stiles the code name Bambi and his large brown eyes with ridiculously long eyelashes blinking at him would have totally suited that name.

Peter needed to do something to address the swelling so both beautiful eyes would be visible. “Let me get some ice.” 

Peter had an idea. He went to the freezer and found a bag of frozen peas. Just like Stiles had given him when the other agent had socked Peter in the face accidentally when Peter had surprised him. 

Peter placed a solicitous hand on Stiles’s shoulder, surveying the damage, trying to decide where to place the cold compress. This was exactly why he had struggled with his lover being in the field—he couldn’t stand the thought of Stiles being hurt.

Finding the rawest looking stretch of skin, Peter tenderly held the bag against Stiles’s jaw. “Is there any way you could ever forgive me?”

“You really hurt me. You know what I don’t understand?” Stiles asked in a small voice. “Why when you broke up with me you said it was because I was too young. You knew I was sensitive to that and you still used it as an excuse. And it wasn’t even the real reason apparently.” Stiles took the bag from Peter’s hands and turned away. 

Away from Peter.

Peter was left staring at Stiles’s profile. Stiles winced when he touched the peas to his eye and Peter winced along with him.

Sinking onto the coffee table—Peter never sat on the coffee table but he needed to be close—he came clean. “I was scared,” he whispered.

Stiles’s head whipped to the side so he could stare into Peter’s face; he winced at the sudden movement.

“Nothing scares you. You’re Halestorm, a violent storm that can do a lot of damage in a short amount of time. I should know.” Stiles frowned.

Peter responded, “And you’re Little Red Riding Hood. You survived contact with the big, bad wolf.” 

“I don’t want to just be a survivor anymore. I thought we had a future.” Stiles looked away again but he didn’t seem as hostile at the moment.

“I still think we do and I’d like to prove that to you if you’ll let me.” Peter cleared his throat as inspiration struck. “You know, someone gave me a recipe for tuna casserole that I’ve been eager to try out. What do you say?” 

Stiles had offered to share his tuna casserole with Peter months ago after his elbow had connected with Peter’s face. The frozen bag of peas Stiles had pressed to Peter’s bruised face had been intended for that recipe. 

“We’ll see if your meal comes up to my exacting standards. But don’t think for one minute I’m going to let you off of the hook easily.” Stiles smiled tentatively at Peter.

His response implied he would eventually let Peter off of the hook. Peter could work with that.

Peter walked to the console by the front door and withdrew a plastic keycard. He set it down on the coffee table. “I know it might be too soon but I want you to have this. It’s the key to our home.”

More like the key to Peter’s heart.

Stiles picked up the key card with his free hand and pocketed it without saying anything. 

Peter held out his hand and Stiles took it. “Will you keep me company in the kitchen?”

“I’ll watch while you do the work.” Stiles’s tone was easy but Peter wasn’t taking his acquiescence for granted.

He wasn’t taking Stiles for granted.

Peter had almost made the biggest blunder of his life—letting Stiles get away—but there was light at the end of the tunnel now.

Instead of an ending, this felt like a new beginning and Peter meant to make the most of it.

As he began to assemble what he needed for the recipe, Peter remembered Lydia’s words about making sure Stiles made it to his party. “Wait, don’t you need to put in an appearance at your party?”

Stiles gave Peter an odd look. “The party is tomorrow night.”

Oh, that little minx. Peter would be having a chat with Lydia in the future over her subterfuge. 

Although who was he to complain? He was getting his happy ending.

 

Finis

**Author's Note:**

> Originally the previous part was going to be the conclusion of this 'verse but when I realized I didn't have time to do justice to the original story I had been writing for this prompt I took the opportunity to add one more part; when you're writing for 25 prompts it's good to mix in some smaller fics and the story of Peter and Stiles working as agents at some undisclosed spy agency seemed like it could handle one more. Hopefully you enjoyed the conclusion
> 
> Thank you for following along on this little journey!


End file.
